The Heart of the Matter
by Cobalt Stars
Summary: When me and my friend have a run in with a shady character during our vacation, life takes a rather intersting turn. What could possibly go wrong when Oraganization XIII personally takes me under their wing? Introducing Me and my friend Rebecca. Goody!
1. Chapter 1

Hey people! This is my first story, so I hope you like it! Oh, and for those of you who came here because Rebecca told you about me; could you give her a big fat thank you for me? He he, so here it is!

* * *

I pulled my knees closer to my chest as I tried to warm myself up. My head rested against the window of our car; my breath fogging up the glass every time I exhaled. I brushed my hair out of my eyes, gazing outside at the white, snow covered ground. 

"Mom," I asked pointedly, "Couldn't we turn up the heat just a little bit? It's freezing in here."

My mom rolled her eyes and gave me her usual get-over-it glare. I didn't know why my mom was so set on making our car trips as miserable as possible. I had already been sitting on the cold leather seat for over four hours without a restroom break. The least she could do was turn up the heat.

I turned to my friend and rolled my own eyes. She gave me a tiny grin. She knew how I felt. My friend, Rebecca, had at least five notebooks stacked on the seat next to her, let alone the one she was holding. I admired her creativity. She was the only person I knew who could simultaneously write fourteen different stories at once.

I returned my attention to the scenery outside. We were heading up into the mountains to spend a week in the snow. I crossed my fingers, hoping we would arrive soon. Becky and I had been waiting three months for this vacation, and now it was finally here!

As if answering our prayers, our car pulled into a tiny, welcoming neighborhood with houses that were spaced widely. We turned into the driveway of a small yet charming house. The house we had rented was bigger than I had expected it to be. There was no fence around the back, so our space to roam was unlimited.

"Wow, Maddie! This place is awesome!" Becky exclaimed.

"I know." I replied with a grin. So, this would be our home for the week.

The first thing I did when I got inside was make a break for the restroom, but Becky got there first.

"Ha!" She mocked, laughing at my expression as I watched her close the door.

"Oh, come on!" I grumbled. After fifteen minutes of waiting for her to get out of the bathroom, I was finally able to 'relieve' myself.

The rest of the day went by quickly. Our car ride there had taken up most of it, so we really only had a couple hours of daylight left. We spent our remaining time building snowmen, destroying them in some in-humane fashion, then rebuilding them and doing it again. We had just started an intense snowball fight when my mom came out to call us to dinner.

We stopped pelting each other with snowballs and dashed inside. "That was fast," My mom commented as we ran by. We instantly sat ourselves at the small dining table; our mouths watering at the sight of food.

Ramen! Sometimes I got the feeling my mom knew my stomach better than she knew me.

"Hey Becky," I said.

"Huh?"

"You've never had ramen before, have you?"

"Nope."

"He-he," I laughed. "It's the best thing in the world. I couldn't live without this stuff, it's so damn good!"

Becky took a mouthful and chewed it thoughtfully. "Hmm," She contemplated. "It's good, but I still like chicken noodle soup better."

My mouth dropped open. "Oh my God, you're kidding me."

"I dunno, am I?"

"How can you like chicken noodle soup better than ramen? You're insane!"

"You know, you're starting to sound a lot like Naruto."

"Pshh." I ignored her comment and began shoveling food into my mouth.

After our fabulous meal, we ran up to the second story of the house and claimed our beds.

"I call the one by the window!" Becky cried.

"Fine, then I'll take the one by the closet." I opened the closet door and shoved our suitcases inside. "Well," I said. "That's done, so, what now?"

She let out an evil laugh. "He-he,"

Oh God, I hated it when she did that.

"What?" I gave a worried reply.

Suddenly, she poked me right beneath my ribcage: AKA Maddie's tickle spot.

"AIIIIIIIIII!" I squealed and jumped away, wrapping my arms around my sides.

Becky began to laugh hysterically. "Oh God," She mused. "I'll never get tired of doing that!"

Oh well. There was no getting away from it.

* * *

I had completely lost track of time. How long had it been? Becky had fallen asleep a while ago, which I found strange. Usually she was the one who was up all night. For some reason, I couldn't sleep. 

Something was tugging at the back of my conscience: something I couldn't quite put my finger on. I glanced at the digital clock that rested on the desk in our room. It was 4:36. I let out a sigh. What I really needed was some fresh air.

I pulled on my jacket, sweats, boots, and mittens. After quietly creeping downstairs, I snuck out the front door and into the dark, chilly, morning air.

Clenching the hood of my jacket so it covered more of my face, I walked a bit further down the walkway toward a small streetlamp that sat by the side of the road. I jumped up and down a few times to get my blood circulating, and then looked up at the sky.

It was stunningly beautiful. The stars danced and glistened as if they were alive, and the full moon sat high in the sky.

I focused my attention on one of the stars. It was huge, luminous, bright, glittering, and dazzling. The star sparkled like the diamond on a wedding ring, and before I knew it, it was…

Gone.

The star had disappeared. I stared at the spot it had been. I had to be imagining it. Had it really just… Vanished? I blinked in confusion.

I took several steps backwards and bumped into something behind me.

"Hu-huh?" I whirled around, not knowing what to expect, and saw a figure standing there.

The figure wore a black cloak that draped around its ankles: its face obscured by a black hood. It wore large, black boots and stood with an air of authority.

I gasped and stumbled backwards, tripping on a root and falling flat on my back. I sat up and quickly began to shuffle in the opposite direction, but was surprised when the figure held out a gloved hand as if offering to help me up. I warily took the hand, and was effortlessly lifted onto my feet.

A man's voice emerged from under the hood. It was deep and menacing, yet frightfully soothing at the same time. "Well," the man said with a half-amused tone, "you're certainly not what I expected. But you'll have to do."

"Wh-what?" I said nervously.

"I'm here to remove you from this world."

I gasped and made an attempt to run, but was briskly stopped by the man as he grabbed my arm and held me firmly.

"I don't mean kill you, girl."

"Who are you?" I asked doubtfully.

"You don't need to know that yet."

I scowled at the man and gritted my teeth. What did he want?

"Your world is dying." The man said.

"What?"

"Soon, your world won't exist anymore. I'm here to take you away from this world before you too are consumed by the darkness."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

The man sighed. "So naïve"

I was confused. The man must have been insane; it was the only way to explain his words. Although his face was covered, I could feel his eyes digging into mine. I instantly looked at my feet. It was as if he were looking into my soul.

"I'm offering you a choice." He said finally. "Come with me and live, or fade away with the rest of these," He paused. "beings."

"Why me? Why did you single me out?"

"Who said we singled you out?"

_We?_

"You singled yourself out, Maddie."

I grimaced. He knew my name.

"I don't understand," I trembled.

"You will in time."

We stood in silence for what seemed like ages. Finally, he sighed. "Very well, then. I'll give you until tomorrow to come up with an answer. But mind you, by then it may be too late."

He spun around and began to walk away. I stood: my gaze returning to my feet. I frantically tried to wrap my mind around what had just happened, but I had no success.

After several minutes of standing there motionless, I trudged back to the house. I was starting to get cold.

* * *

"Hey dork, wake up!" 

I groggily opened my eyes and looked up.

"You were talking in your sleep. You said something about Sauske being eaten by an Octodragon, whatever that means."

"Becky? When did you get up?"

"Don't you know me any better?" She scoffed. "I've been up all night!"

"Really?"

"Yeah. You fell asleep at like, ten o' clock."

I sat up and scratched my head. Last night: had that all been a dream?

"Come on, Maddie! Your mom's making breakfast!"

Shaking off the lingering feeling of doubt, I hopped out of bed and messily did my hair before heading downstairs.

"Hey mom," I asked while sliding into a chair. "Where are we going today?"

"I thought we could go into town and do some shopping."

I grinned. That would take my mind off things for a while. I began to drown my pancakes in syrup and shoveled more food into my mouth.

I wasn't exactly the neatest person when it came to eating habits.

Becky stared at her plate.

"Aren't you going to eat?" I asked.

"No, I don't like pancakes."

I shrugged and took her plate as well.

"God Maddie." She laughed.

"Hey, you eat just as much as I do!"

"Yes, but I'm on a diet of strictly junk food, whereas you keep a balance between healthy and unhealthy foods."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Hmm, depends."

After discussing when healthy food was a bad thing, we changed out of our pajamas and got ready to head into town.

It was around 11:00 in the morning when we arrived, giving us a couple of hours before lunch. We dawdled around several touristy shops that were filled with useless junk that was so hard to resist.

I didn't buy anything, though. I was short on cash and wanted to save my money for ski gear when we went later that week.

Becky, on the other hand, splurged. She ended up buying several overly-priced snow globes and a book on zombie fighting.

After Becky spent all her money, we both agreed that it was time to eat. My mom wanted to go to another store, so she handed us each twenty bucks and told us to find her as soon as we were finished eating.

Becky and I galloped off, searching the restaurants until we finally settled on a not-so-fabulous pizza place.

"Huh," Becky pondered. "I didn't think they would have a Mountain Mike's in the middle of the mountains."

"Makes perfect sense to me!"

We placed our order at the counter: a small, deep dish pizza with extra pepperoni. As soon as our food came to our table, Becky started picking all the pepperoni off the pizza and piling it on her plate. I sighed.

"What?" she said. "I like pepperoni."

"Well, usually people take pepperoni off the pizza so they _don't _have to eat it. You just don't eat the pizza."

"I'm unique. So sue me."

I greedily took a sip from my soda. It was my favorite combination: a mixture of Sprite, Minute Maid Lemonade, and Strawberry Fanta. Becky was steadily removing the pepperoni from the slice of pizza on my plate. I made no attempt to stop her. I knew that if she wanted it, she would get it.

Out of habit, my eyes hovered around the room. I observed the people sitting in the eating booths around us. One man in particular had caught my attention. He was short and rather plump, and hid his face under an oversized cowboy hat and an unkempt mustache and beard that trailed down what should have been his neck.

I suppressed a giggle. He reminded me a bit of Yosemite Sam from the Bugs Bunny show.

The man lifted his head, and in a flash I had averted my eyes to another part of the room.

Suddenly, my heart skipped a beat.

_Was that-?_

I stared in shock at the man who sat in one of the booths across the room. He had the same black hood as the man I had seen the night before, as well as the same commanding aura.

Once again, I got the sensation that his eyes were digging into my conscience: _Searching for something, searching for an answer…_

"Maddie?" I snapped back into focus, instantly turning to look at the person who said my name. "Hey, are you okay?"

I looked back at the booth, but the man wasn't there. I wasn't sure if I was disappointed or relieved; all I knew was that the feeling of intrusion in my mind had disappeared.

"Hellooooooooo, Earth to Maddie!"

I retuned my attention to Becky, who was now looking rather amused.

"Dude, what just happened? You, like, seriously just flipped out! Oh! Don't tell me; you saw Michael Jackson, didn't you?"

"What?" I raised an eyebrow, not understanding why she would think that I'd seen the 'it.'

"Never mind." She replied coolly.

After the temporary moment of humor, I realized that something was wrong. That man shouldn't have been here. He was only a dream, right? Maybe I had only imagined it. After all, Becky didn't seem to notice him; or had she even looked? Everything the man had said to me the night before swam through my head. He said that our world was disappearing. This place didn't feel any different, but then again…

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud ringing. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and glanced at my caller I.D. It said 'mom,' so I briskly flipped it open and answered.

"Maddie, it's time to head back."

I looked at my watch. _It was that time already?_

"Okay Mom, I'll meet you by the snowboard rentals."

Becky and I picked up all our stuff and headed out the door. I was glad to get out of there.

* * *

"I say we go exploring!" 

I finally caved. "Alright, alright." I re-laced my boots, regretting taking them off in the first place. "But we need to be back before dark."

"Oh, screw that! Exploring is always more fun in the dark! Unless you're afraid…"

"I'm more afraid of my mother than anything else. She'd get pissed if we weren't-"

"Bah humbug!" Becky huffed. "We'll stay out as long as we want to!"

I gave a half-hearted sigh. Who was I kidding? I wanted to stay out all night! We trudged out the backdoor, heading into the snowy white forest behind the cabin. The trees were enormous, with branches that dangled high above our heads; each one with tear drops of melting snow dripping from their needles.

As if we knew where we were going, we made our way up between the pine trees, following a small trail that may have been made by passing deer. We did our fair share of climbing over large rocks and fallen logs before we found a spot suitable enough to rest at. It was a large grove, with several 'seat worthy' rocks scattered about. Becky sat down on one of the flatter rocks, while I remained standing.

"This place is pretty cool!" I declared.

"Yeah,"

I heard the crinkle of a wrapper and turned my head to see what Becky was doing.

"Is that a Pop Tart?"

"Yeah,"

"Why did you bring a Pop Tart?"

"Because I LIKE Pop Tarts. Is that a problem?"

"No, no! I like Pop Tarts too!" I said defensively.

"You should."

"I do."

"Good."

"For who?"

"For you."

"Oh."

"Hey, can I have some?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because you're not worthy!"

"Why not?"

"Because you just aren't! Now shut up and let me eat in peace!"

"Okay! Okay, God."

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"AAH! No talking!"

I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms. Believing it safer to just be silent rather than complain, I focused my attention on other things instead. I swiveled my head around, examining my surroundings a second time. One of the trees bordering the grove looked easily climbable, so I walked over to it and lifted myself up onto one of the lower branches. It was taller than I had thought, so it took several minutes to find enough leverage to swing myself over. After I accomplished my first branch, I decided to climb up several more until I was about fourteen feet above the ground.

I sat down and leaned against the trunk of the evergreen. Becky still sat on the rock, nibbling her Pop Tart. _He-he, that's Becky for you, _I thought to myself. My serenity was interrupted by an ominous thought. _The sun was setting…_How long had we been out here?

"Becky," I called from the tree. "The sun's going down!"

"So?" She replied.

"Well, what time is it right now?"

I couldn't be sure, but I swear I saw her face contort with confusion as she glanced at her watch. "Um," She paused. "It's going on four o'clock."

_Four o'clock? But the sun wasn't supposed to set until around eight thirty! _I glanced back up at the sky. _There was something about this that wasn't right._

"It's probably just a coincidence, Mads. Forget it."

I sighed and looked down at the ground. Becky had stood, having finished her food, and was heading toward the tree. Suddenly, she paused.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She pointed to the ground about five feet away from where she stood. My eyes followed the direction of her finger, and I saw something strange.

It was a shadow. Usually, that wouldn't have bothered me, but this one was different. It was… Unique. The shadow looked as if someone had taken black paint and mixed it with to much water. It swirled and danced: a haunting display of darkness. I looked to the sky, expecting to see some sort of cloud or bird; anything that could be making the shadow.

There was nothing.

"What the Hell?" I whispered under my breath. I quickly descended the tree and ran as quickly as I could to Becky's side.

"What is it?" She asked.

"To Hell if I know," I replied shortly. As I looked at it, I realized that the thing was almost, _luminescent. _I looked around, noticing that the shadow, in fact, was the brightest thing in the area; which wasn't saying much.

The sun had disappeared almost completely, leaving the sky a near pitch black. There were no stars in the sky. Even the moon had vanished. From what little light was left, I could still make out the cabin far below us on the hill. There were no lights on there. As a matter of fact, there were no lights anywhere.

Becky seemed to notice this at the same time as me. She quickly rummaged through her bag, whipping out the flashlight. She tried to turn it on, pressing the switch several times, but nothing happened.

"Maddie," She said. "It's not working."

"The light; it's all gone." The moment I said this, the shadow writhed and squirmed as if it were alive. We gasped simultaneously as several dark figures emerged from the swirling blackness. It was to dark to make out what they were. Even their shadowy outlines looked like nothing I had ever seen before. All stood about knee height and appeared to have crooked horns on top of their heads.

One of the figures leapt at us; its eyes shining like a cat's, only they were bright yellow and filled with unrealistic emotions. Pain, love fury, envy: all swirled into one apocalyptic nightmare.

I covered my face with my arms, expecting impact, but none came. I slowly looked up beyond my defense, expecting nothing but the creature to leap at me again as soon as I let my guard down, but instead what I saw was a person.

It was the man in black from before. He stood in front of me, a strange, radiant weapon held in his hand. It shone bright red, reminding me a bit of Darth Vader from Star Wars. He turned around so he was facing the both of us, and chuckled slightly.

"What the Hell were those things?" I asked, still shocked at what I had seen.

Becky just stared open-mouthed at the man. "Where did he come from?" I heard her whisper to herself.

The man pointed his finger at me, the weapon disappearing from his hand. "I told you," he said, "to make a decision. Time is nearly up. Have you made your choice?"

"Please, just tell me. What were those things?" I pleaded.

"You're avoiding the question."

"You're avoiding an answer!"

We stared at each other for a long time before finally one of us broke the silence.

"Maddie," Becky turned and grabbed my arm. "What's going on? Who is this?"

I remained silent, continuing to stare at the man until he spoke.

"Alright then," He sighed. "Since you're so determined to make this more difficult then it has to be, I guess I should tell you. Now, where should I begin?"

"You can start by telling me who you are and why you're here."

His tone suddenly became serious as he leaned in closer to my face. "Listen, girl. I give the orders, not you." He drew back, resuming his stilted posture. "But since you asked so nicely," he said sarcastically, "I might just decide to comply with your request."

The man reached up to his hood, slowly drawing it backwards to reveal his face. He then started to laugh hysterically.

I scowled, gritting my teeth at the man's ploy. "What are you playing at?" I said. "You know we can't see! That's a dirty trick!"

"Well then, I guess you'll just have to wait for that half of the question then, won't you?" He pulled the hood back over is head, once again obscuring his face.

"Alright then," I said through gritted teeth. "What about the other half of my question? Why are you here?"

"I thought it was obvious." He replied. "I'm here for you."

"But you never told me why I'm so important to you!"

"A person can't do something nice for someone else?"

"Of course they can, but I don't even know who you are! Why did you pick me to save? Why let everyone else die?"

Becky cringed. "Die?" She exclaimed loudly. "I'm going to die?"

The man turned to her. "Who is this?" He asked, as if noticing her for the first time.

I looked at Becky and nodded. She answered for herself.

"I'm Rebecca-just Rebecca." She told him.

"You have no family, then?"

"Well, I do, but I don't like them much."

"I see." He turned back towards me. "If it really matters to you, I can take her along too. Who knows, she may be of some use to me."

"What do you-"

He held up a hand to silence me. "Do you know anything about the heart?"

"Umm," I was confused. The question was so random; I didn't know what to say.

"The human heart contains more power than you could ever imagine. The only problem is finding the right person to wield it."

"Huh?"

"There are only a handful of people in the world who have the ability to successfully wield the power of the heart, and even fewer who ever get the opportunity. In each generation, a person is chosen to brandish those abilities. Right now, that person happens to be you."

I felt my breath leaving my lungs. I gave a tiny gasp, inhaling something that made me cough a bit. I collected myself enough to gesture for him to continue. Becky was silent.

"You see," he continued, "this world was created in such a way that prevents a person from using the powers. It suppresses everything that the heart could unleash: all the brilliance, all the light, all the darkness…" His voice began to take on a greedy tone. "You; I'm giving you the chance to discover your true self! To become what you really are! Come with me; leave this world behind! As soon as you leave here, the chains around your heart will be unlocked. You can truly reach your full potential!"

I looked back up at him, hardly believing what I was hearing, _and yet something made me feel like he was telling the truth._ "What's going to happen to this world," I asked.

His voice lost all the emotion that had formerly been there. "Those creatures that you saw," He began "Do you have any idea what they were?"

"No."

"They're called Heartless. They are creatures of the darkness who are attracted by the darkness in people's hearts. The Heartless will steal someone's heart, leaving them with nothing. When they come, there is only a short period of time left for that world. They will devour it, leaving nothing behind."

"But this place; it will still be here, won't it?"

"No. Everything goes. The heart of the people; the heart of the world."

I stood in silence for a while, contemplating what I'd heard. "Becky," I said finally, "I want to go with him."

She nodded solemnly.

"You're coming too."

Becky looked up at me. "Well duh," She said. "I wouldn't let you leave without me!"

I smiled and turned back to the man.

"Alright. My decision is final. I'm going with you."


	2. Chapter 2

I soon found myself looking into a large, swirling, black abyss. Both mine and Becky's faces were illuminated by a slight glow that the dark thing emitted.

"Well," The man said, "are you going in?"

"What is it?"

"You'll see."

This man was starting to get on my nerves. He was so _vague_ all the time! I shrugged it off, looking to Becky again for reassurance. She nodded, motioning for me to go ahead. I summoned up my courage and stuck my foot into the blackness. I didn't feel anything bad…

I stepped all the way through, holding my breath as I was enveloped by the swirling oval shaped shadow.

I instantly had to cover my eyes with my hand. There had been a sudden change in the lighting; temporarily blinding me. After a moment of recuperation, I opened my eyes and saw Becky step through the darkness.

"AAH!" She cried. "THE LIGHT! IT BURNS!"

I couldn't help but snicker, despite the fact that I had nearly done the same thing moments before.

For a second, I thought that all we had done was reappear in the same spot: the ground around us was pure white with glistening stars lighting up the sky. I quickly realized, however, that the ground I was standing on was hard and made with some kind of glossy stone: probably marble.

Becky sniveled somewhere next to me. I grinned as I watched her rubbing her eyes. When she finally opened them, however, her face lit up with a mixture of excitement and confusion.

"Whoa…" She muttered. "It's, like, all shiny and stuff!"

As we examined our surroundings, the man emerged from the portal. He proudly walked between Becky and I and cleared his throat.

"I believe I got you two out of there just in time. Your world is sure to have vanished already."

I looked down at my feet, realizing what must have happened. I thought back to the star I had seen the night before. Had that happened to Earth, too?

Becky squealed in excitement. "Did our world _really _disappear? That's so freakin cool, man!"

Yeah," I said halfheartedly. The realization of what had just happened hit me like a freight train. I had just left everything behind. My whole life was about to change drastically; and the only thing I had managed to save was Becky and myself.

I could only hope that this didn't turn into a major guilt trip.

"So," I said, returning my attention to the man, "what now?"

The man laughed slightly as he turned back to us. "I suppose I should tell you who I am; we could start with that."

I stared in-avertedly at the man, pondering only for a moment what he meant.

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "That's right!" Grinning sheepishly, I gave the man a slight poke. "So, who the hell are you anyways?"

The man sighed, sounding slightly annoyed at my comment. He reached up, gripping the hood of his cloak tightly.

Suddenly, I realized something. The man had a face! I mean, he actually looked like something! In the few brief seconds that it took for him to remove his hood, I tried to picture what he looked like. Was he balding prematurely? Was he cute? Did he have an oversized nose like my eighth grade history teacher? Was he even a man? He had never really told me his gender. I had just assumed, but I could be wrong…

Alas: he was a male.

The first thing I noticed about him was the color of his hair. It was silvery-white, and appeared to be short and spiky at some parts while reaching past his shoulders at others.

I fixated my gaze on his face. He had piercing yellow eyes, along with an expression of pure determination mixed with a chilling calm.

"My name is Xemnas." He said with a slight grin. "I am the superior of Organization XIII; and this," he gestured toward the building. "Is the Castle that Never Was."

"Organization wha-?" Becky chirped.

Xemnas chuckled. "I figured you would ask that. Now, where to start?"

Xemnas deadpanned, his expression finally fitting his serious posture.

"The Organization was formed on the basis of recreating Kingdom Hearts."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Do you know what that is?"

"Uh…"

Xemnas huffed. "Okay, I'll explain this to you as simply as I can. I and the rest of the Organization are nobodies."

"Oh, Xemnas! No you aren't!" Becky cooed.

"Excuse me?"

"Look, I'm sure there are people who will appreciate you for who you are."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, what are you talking about?"

"I'm a nobody, understand?"

"Oh, come on Xemnas! Don't have such low self esteem!"

"What? I'm a nobody! How many times do I have to repeat myself to you two?"

"Aww, I'll be your friend!" Becky walked up to Xemnas and gave him a hug. He glared at her and pried her off briskly.

"Um," I piped in, "I think we're missing something here."

"Yes," Said Xemnas angrily. "I believe you are."

Becky slipped back to my side. "I was only trying to be nice…" She whispered.

"As I was saying," he continued, "a nobody is a being who has had their heart stolen by the heartless. We nobodies are only the shell that is left behind, and only by building Kingdom Hearts can we be whole once again."

"Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh," I said ponderingly. "so basically you're just striving for an existence?"

"Yes. Our hearts lie somewhere within the realm of darkness. We need the door to the realm before we can retrieve them."

"Ha-ha! Well, that's easy enough! Well, to understand, I mean."

Xemnas pointed to the sliver of the moon, barely visible among the stars. "Once the moon is full, we will be able to reclaim what is ours."

At that moment, another dark, oval portal appeared behind us. A man stepped out from the shadowy orb, dressed in the same black cloak as Xemnas.

Another Organization member, perhaps?

The man was much paler than Xemnas, and was easily distinguishable by a large scar in the shape of an 'x' that crossed between his eyes. He had long, bluish hair along with a pair of amber colored eyes that lit up ferociously in the moonlight.

"Xemnas," he called, "was the mission a success?"

"Oh, Saix, you're here. Good." He turned away from us and acknowledged the man accordingly. "Take these two and introduce them to the others."

"Two, sir?" Saix glanced at us; a somewhat confused look on his face. "But-"

"There was a slight change of plans, nothing dire. Just get the job done."

"R-right, sir. Of course."

Xemnas quickly turned to us. "Sorry for the quick departure, but I have business to attend to." He summoned another portal and vanished, leaving me, Becky, and Saix behind.

Saix walked over to us and knelt down, examining both of our faces closely. "So, which of you is the one The Superior was talking about?"

"The Superior?"

"Yes, Xemnas: The Superior."

"Well, me, I guess." I raised a hand slightly.

"Who is the other one?" He glanced at Becky.

"She's my friend."

"Friend?"

"Yeah! She came with me."

"Oh." Saix straightened and held out a hand, which we both shook. "I'm Saix. Apparently I'm your guide today."

I began to dance around happily on my feet, something I always did when I was excited. "I'm Maddie! Nice to meet you!"

"Hello." Becky said shortly.

Saix stared at her for a moment, waiting for her to give a name, but she only blinked and stared back. He coughed.

"Ahem, well then, uh… Shall we go?"

"Right, yeah." I grabbed Becky's arm and turned to follow Saix through the newly opened portal.

We stepped through, emerging in a white room occupied only by a white table and several people. _Did everyone here wear black cloaks? It's like the Grim Reaper Association._

The people in the room were very, _colorful,_ I guess. Just about everyone there had hair that was a different color, and some of it just _wasn't natural. _Most of the people in the room had blonde hair, but those who didn't embodied a living rainbow. Aside from Saix's aqua-blue hair, there were people with bright red, silvery-purple, orange, and even _pink _hair! Wow; I felt like I was at a cosplay.

The Organization members were immersed in a game of cards. _What was that they were playing? Poker, maybe? _Most of them looked bored out of their minds. One of them, a tall, skinny red-head, yawned lazily; only to be slapped in the face by a very angry blonde man with a goatee.

"Oi, Axel!" The blonde man said in a _fantastic _British accent. "Pull yourself together, man! Get focused on the game, or you're bound to lose this match if you keep dozing off!"

"But Luxord," Axel said warily, "you forced us to play with you! This is our third game. I'm starting to get bored…"

"YOU WILL PLAY YOU LANGUID, IMPERCEPTIVE, AQUISITIVE, SACRELEGIOUS SATIRIST!"

Axel winced in fear as the Brit chewed him out for his comment. The only girl in the room (besides us) let out a malicious chuckle.

Luxord turned on the girl. "Larxene! You shouldn't be laughing. Remember who's losing the bloody game!"

Larxene's face took on a bemused and offended expression.

Saix shook his head and addressed us thoughtfully. "Sorry about this; I believe we just interrupted another one of Luxord's 'tirades'." He cleared his throat loudly, and everyone went silent: focusing all their attention on the newcomers.

To be honest, I began to get somewhat self-conscious. I'd never enjoyed being in the spotlight; especially when it was people I didn't know. Scrambling through my thoughts, I tried to come up with some kind of introduction, but fortunately Saix had it covered.

"Alright, I know you've all been expecting this, so don't act so surprised!"

"You never said it was going to be a girl!" Larxene cried.

"Whatsa matter, Larxene? You jealous?" a blonde, spiky haired boy with a mullet replied sarcastically.

"Shut up, Demyx…" Larxene growled.

There were several snickers from around the room, but they were quickly stifled by a murderous glare from Saix.

"So," he continued, "now that we're finished _messing around_, let's get down to business; shall we? I would like to introduce to you the two newest members of our Organization."

_Whoa, wait; did he just say 'the two newest members'? I did not agree to this…_

"Two?" one of them shouted. "There was only s'posed to be one!"

"Yes, yes, I know." Saix grumbled. "There was a slight change in plans."

"Which one's which, then?"

"What're we supposed to do with the other one?"

"Why weren't we notified earlier?"

I shot a worried glance at Becky, but was relieved to see her smiling. _She's probably enjoying this… _Oh well. That's Becky for you. Why she took pleasure in stuff like this, I'll never know.

"Goodness, people! I don't know; ask The Superior! I've only just now received notice of this!" Saix fumed.

A young, silver haired boy stood up and snickered mischievously. "Saix, why don't you just tell us who they are? They look kind of, confused."

Saix glanced at me, and I could only imagine the expression embedded on my face.

"Kuso…" I muttered under my breath. I was probably making a great first impression: paranoid expression and all.

"Right." Saix said, motioning for the boy to sit down. He grabbed my arm and pulled my in front of him. "This is Maddie. She is the girl The Superior spoke of before."

I was greeted by several melancholy acknowledgements. _Wow, some of the people here are so stilted._

I stepped aside, allowing Saix to pull Becky up in front. "This here is… um…" He paused and looked pleadingly at me.

_Oh yeah. Becky never told him her name…_

"Her name's Rebecca…" I whispered to him. He gave me a grateful nod and quickly resumed his speech.

"This is Rebecca. She's Maddie's 'friend,' so I guess she tagged along."

Axel smiled. "Ah well, double the fun!"

_Okay, so maybe not everyone was stuck up…_

Saix turned back toward the Organization. "Alright, your turn."

They all looked around with blank expressions on their faces. Finally, one of the older looking members stood and cleared his throat.

"Erhem," he straightened and thrust out his chest. "Number II, Xigbar, at your service!" He saluted. I had to admit, the guy was kind of scary looking. I wondered what he had done to get the scar on his face; and how he lost his eye. At least, I think he lost his eye. He could just be the kind of person who wears eye patches for fun…

One by one the Organization members stood and introduced themselves.

"Number III, Xaldin."

_Damn, that guy looked like a Gorilla._

"I'm Vexen, number IV."

_Scary eyes…_

"My name is Lexaeus, but you can call me number V."

_His hair looks like cheese._

"The name's Zexion, number VI!"

"I'm Axel: that's A-X-E-L, got it memorized?"

_I'll probably forget._

"Hi I'm Demyx and Axel SUCKS."

Axel glared at Demyx before tackling him to the ground where several wimpy exclamations could be heard.

"I'm Luxord," The British guy said while rolling his eyes. "Number X. Pleasure to meet you."

The pink haired dude spoke without looking at either of us. "Marluxia, number XI."

"I'm Larxene, number XII. Don't screw that up, got it kid?"

_Bitch…_

"I'm Roxas! Number XIII. What's up?"

"Oh my God!" I cried. "I just realized something!"

"What?" Saix asked.

"There are EXACTLY thirteen of you!"

They looked at me skeptically. "Um, Maddie?" Becky raised an eyebrow. "There's a reason they're called 'Organization XIII'."

"I swear I did not know that."

Becky hid her face in her hands and groaned. "Wow, Maddie."

Someone in the room snickered. I just shrugged and looked at Saix. "So, now what?" I asked nonchalantly.

Saix appeared to remember something. "Oh: right, you two, time to figure out where you'll be staying." He grabbed us both by the shoulder and walked us into another portal.

"Okay, two things." I stated as soon as we emerged. "One: how come we got absolutely no time to get to know those people?"

Saix sighed. "You'll have plenty of time to do that later. I'm on Xemnas's orders right now."

"Alright then. Okay, second question: do you people walk _anywhere?_"

He smiled at this and shook his head in reply. "Not usually. It's a lot easier just to teleport everywhere"

"Why can't we do that?" Becky complained.

"Um, I'll get that figured out soon. You may end up needing to use that."

"Sweetness."

We returned our attention to finding rooms to stay in. Becky and I both wanted a room next to each other, so Saix had to spend a while searching for vacant, neighboring rooms. Once we found them, however, we were allowed to enter and have a look around.

"Alright," Saix said, pointing to both of the doors. "Who's going to take what room?"

Becky and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"I'll take the one on the left," Becky said.

"Sure, whatever."

"But I wanna see your room first. Just in case I change my mind; okay?"

"Yeah, I don't care"

Saix intercepted us before we could go in the door. "One more thing before I leave. You two shouldn't go wandering off. If you do, please try to stay within the general vicinity of these rooms! Try to save the exploring for when you can use the portals; you could get lost."

"Yeah, sure…" I replied, not really having paid any attention at all. Saix nodded and let us through.

I opened the door to the room and saw to my disdain that the entire room was pure white. There wasn't a splash of color to be seen: just like the rest of the castle. "Aw, man!" I groaned. "I need to fix this or I'm gonna suffer from color withdrawal."

Becky nodded in agreement, and then dragged my over to her room. This time, Becky was the one who let out a mournful sigh. "No color in here, either."

Suddenly, I had an epiphany. "We should search the castle for color!"

"Great idea! That was brilliant; why didn't I think of that?"

"Because I'm a genius." Taking no heed in Saix's suggestion that we remain by the room, we dashed off down the hall to begin our quest for color.

After about half an hour of reckless exploration; we started to get irritated.

"Damn," Becky fumed. "This place has less joie de vivre than a blank sheet of sketch paper."

"Seriously. This would be so much easier if we could cover more ground." We glanced at each other.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yeah. Let's split up! We might actually find something."

"Okay; I'll go left and you go right."

"Right."

"No, you go left!"

"No, no! I meant 'right,' like, 'okay, I actually know what I'm doing' kind of right."

"Oh."

"Hey Becky,"

"Huh?"

"Are we taking this too seriously?"

We looked at each other. "Naw…" We said simultaneously.

After setting a time and place to meet, we split up: Becky going down the right hallway and me going down the left. I spent a while meandering through the corridors; spacing out but still keeping enough sense to remember my goal. Finally, after wandering around for a bit, I stumbled upon a rather peculiar room.

_Hey, this room's got some color. _I thought to myself, examining my surroundings with actual interest. The room wasn't that big, but appeared to be separated by levels of some sort. Lining the separate levels of the room were twelve, tombstone shaped structures that emitted a bluish glow. Inscribed on each of them was a different weapon along with random words that seemed to form a name.

_The Cloaked Schemer…_

_The Graceful Assassin…_

_The Luna Diviner…_

_What were these for?_

My best guess was that these were various members of the organization.

I had just knelt down and begun to examine another one of the tombstones when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped back, startled by the sudden intrusion, and saw that it was the pink-haired man.

"What do you think you're doing down here, young lady?" He asked in a menacing tone.

_Man, I hadn't even heard him coming._

"Uh, I was, well…"

"You really should be back in your room, you know." He leaned over so that his face was level with mine. "Do you need me to show you where to go? You look a bit lost."

"No, no. I'll be fine; I was just looking." I stepped around him and headed for the door I came in through. Marluxia didn't say a word as he watched me leave, and I was relieved when I shut the door behind me. _Now all I had to do was find my way back to the room…_

I sullenly tried to retrace my steps, but my effort was wasted.

_Damn it! Everything in this place looks the same!_

While I searched, I began to space out once again. With everything that had just happened, it was hard to focus on the task at hand. Back when we were with the rest of the Org, Saix had said that we were the two newest members. Was that really true? I hadn't even done anything special yet; and were they sure they even had the right person? I couldn't even wrap my head around the fact that my home world was gone, let alone believe that I had any sort of special ability. I mean; yeah, I had always wanted something like this to happen; but hadn't everyone? But I guess since Becky's wish had come true, (She had always wanted her family to disappear) how far fetched could Xemnas's wacko idea that I was any bit special be?

"Ouch!" I cried. As I was absorbed in my thoughts, I had failed to notice the wall that was right in front of me; and consequentially walked straight into it.

I heard someone laughing behind me. "Are you sure you aren't lost? Even the tiniest bit?"

"Wha-? How long have you been following me?" I asked Marluxia suspiciously.

"Long enough." He walked over to me and helped me up off the floor.

"Thanks, but I have to admit, that's really creepy."

He laughed again. "I'm just keeping an eye on you. You look like the kind that gets themselves into trouble all the time."

"Gee, I'm flattered."

"You know, you really shouldn't be wandering around down here." He deadpanned. "The Superior would be furious if we lost you."

"Well," I mused, "I would go back if I knew where the hell 'back' was. That; and I need to find Becky."

"Your friend's out here too?" he asked, somewhat annoyed. I nodded, and a small grimace appeared on his face. "Looks like neither of you have much common sense."

"Actually, that's just me. She's got plenty; she just never uses it."

"Ah. Pardon my mistake."

"Naw, that's okay. It is really hard to tell the difference, so I can't blame you."

Marluxia smiled and rolled his eyes. "Do me a favor and stay here while I go get your friend, will you?"

"Can I move to the other side of the hall? It looks a bit more fun over there."

"Why?"

"I really don't know; Just a sudden urge."

His face became devoid of any expression besides skepticism. "It really doesn't matter what side of the room you're on. Just stay here so I can find you later, okay?"

I nodded and sat down, trying to get comfortable. Knowing Becky, this could take a while. Marluxia disappeared, and I was left alone.

It had only been about five minutes before I was too bored to stand. I had already wasted time trying to catch dust particles, and now untying and retying my shoes was starting to lose its former excitement. I figured that the easiest thing to do was take a nap; so I curled up on the floor and attempted to get some rest. (I sleep in weird places, people. For example, under my piano, on tables, on the stairs, etc…)

I soon dozed off; still aware of what was going on around me, but technically still asleep. I barely noticed when footsteps sounded loudly from down the hall. The sound stopped for a moment, then sped up. "What the Hell?" I heard someone mutter to themselves. "Hey kid! What're you doing here?"

I yelped when someone roughly lifted my up off the floor. _I hadn't been expecting that…_ Standing over me was the tall, skinny figure of… _what was his name? Axel, right? _

"Now why would someone like you spend their time sleeping on the floor when they've been provided with perfectly adequate housing?" He smiled warmly at me.

"I'm waiting for Marluxia." I replied groggily.

"Trust me Maddie; that guy isn't worth waiting for. He lures women in with his manly charms and good looks; then leaves them for the next broken hearted disaster that looks like they could use a lift. Then he leaves them! He's a man-whore, seriously." Axel looked about ready to jump into lecture mode. I could almost imagine him putting on dorky Harry Potter glasses, a lab coat, and pulling out the blackboard that had been scribbled on with white chalk. _Let me enlighten you on the subject matter of Marluxia's devilish infatuations with beautiful women who encompass emotional issues…_

"No; not like that!" I grumbled.

"Really? Why else would you be waiting for him?"

"He left to go find Rebecca."

Axel's eyes widened. "Marley's doing you a favor? Goodness, that's a first!" He grinned for a moment; but the grin quickly turned to a look of uncertainty. "He didn't ask you…" He trailed off for a moment, and then shook his head. "Never mind; that's totally irrelevant right now. He's not that low, _is he?" _

I arched my eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Never mind, never mind!" Axel backed up somewhat defensively. I decided it would be better just to drop the subject.

"So…" There was a long silence after that; neither one of us wanting to be the one to break it. _Awkward turtle…_

I shifted uncomfortably. _He's staring at me; that's a bit unnerving._

When I looked up at him, Axel seemed to be looking at something behind me. He gave a nervous smile and waved. I turned around and let out a little high pitched scream when I saw Marluxia standing less than two inches away from me. Becky was standing next to him, looking rather dejected.

"You girls are nothing but trouble."


	3. Chapter 3

"Well, I would have been angry too if you would've told me that." I sighed.

Becky 'hmphed'. "I was only speaking my mind."

The previous night had been unproductive: to an extent. Marluxia had returned with Becky, pissed off and ready to decapitate the next ignorant nuisance that passed his way. I had made the mistake of asking him what had happened. Bad idea. He had lashed out at me, accusing us both of being an unnecessary load for the Organization to carry. Axel, too, had looked rather frightened and bewildered. Or was that annoyance? I couldn't tell.

After Marluxia had reluctantly returned us to our rooms, I bombarded Becky with questions on what had just happened. She had refused until morning, however, to tell me anything at all.

Apparently, upon meeting Marluxia, she had reacted to his 'unique appearance' by telling him that he looked "either incredibly feminine or transsexual."

Marluxia had taken this as an insult (which, coming from Becky, probably was) and had instantly taken a dislike to her. Unfortunately for us, that probably _wasn't _a good thing.

I heaved a deep sigh. Oh well; after all, Becky was only being Becky. Getting angry wouldn't make anything easier. It would only make things worse.

_His hair __is__ pink; that is kind of strange…_

I noticed for the first time that Becky didn't look too happy. I guessed it was because she had none of her sketchbooks or notebooks with her. She was the kind of person that might literally suffer a withdrawal if she didn't have the opportunity to doodle on something every day; that, or draw random Hiragana symbols. (Both of us knew a little Japanese.)

As I had expected, she stood and began rummaging through the drawers of the nightstand next to her bed.

"Looking for paper?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Yep."

"Lemme guess- you've gone through that thing fifteen times already."

"Sixteen."

Sometimes Becky really freaked me out. "Why would there be paper in there _now?_"

"Because I said there would be." She threatened, though not necessarily to me.

I had a friend that threatened in-animate objects. Strange, but not surprising. After all, you're looking at someone who talks to themselves, laughs hysterically for no reason, and spent half their life thinking they were a witch and cried on their 11th birthday when that letter from Hogwarts never came. (I still think my parents hid it from me.)

There was a knock on the door, and I rushed to answer it. Saix stood calmly outside the room with an unreadable expression on his face. Becky, ignoring common courtesy, immediately ran up to him.

"I need paper." She said demandingly. "Bring me paper."

Saix raised an eyebrow. "I beg your pardon?"

"P-A-P-E-R. I need some, now!"

He frowned and ignored her demand. "I'll get you some in a moment-but right now the Superior wishes to speak with you."

_Oh shit. This wasn't about the whole Marluxia thing, was it?_

We were ushered into another portal that led to an incredibly large, white room. It looked almost like the conference room at my dad's office, only fifty times larger. A neat, white table sat in the center of the room; all the chairs having been removed for some unknown reason. There were thirteen enormous black tapestries hanging on the wall behind the table; each one emblazoned with a silver colored roman numeral.

I stood in awe of the room while Becky continued to sulk. Saix disappeared without warning, leaving us in the strange place by ourselves.

But not for long.

Several seconds after Saix left, two other figures emerged from a separate portal. Xemnas and Demyx walked over to us: one of them emotionless while the other looked rather frightened. Demyx had a small bruise under his left eye. _Probably from when Axel tackled him to the floor yesterday._

Xemnas stood in front of me, disregarding my sensitivity to height difference. _Damn it, why am I so short?_ He towered above me, forcing me to look straight up to see him fully. (Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating _a little_ He's still taller than me, though. Think Chihuahua VS and eight month old Golden Retriever puppy. Except Xemnas is potty trained. I think.)

Demyx nervously smiled at us. I had to wonder why he was even there in the first place.

"I hear you had a refreshing night," Xemnas said. I detected a hint of sarcasm in his voice, but was unsure whether or not that was my nerves talking.

"Um, sure." I improvised poorly.

"We had a fantastic night, thank you!" Becky looked as if she were about to start laughing.

I smiled innocently. There was no doubt in my mind that he had found out what had happened, but since he hadn't _directly_ confronted us about it yet, I figured it was best to apply an angelic expression to my face.

He merely sighed and gazed at us again. "Demyx, please explain to them why they are here. I must speak with Saix." He disappeared randomly, leaving an awkward and confused looking Demyx to his assigned task.

_Oh shit. We were in trouble, weren't we…_

"Uh… um…" Demyx nervously looked around the room. "Just so you guys know, I really don't want to be here right now."

I gave him a sympathetic nod.

"So…" he solemnly scratched the back of his head. "You guys are here because-because-um…because Superior wants to find out what your heart-thingie is."

"Huh?" Becky laughed. "You have issues with words, man."

Demyx frowned. "Um, yeah. Heart thingie-what did he call that?" He said to himself. "Room… cell… section, hollow-was that what he called it? Hollow?"

He momentarily stared up at the ceiling, his expression filled with thought.

"Chamber!" he burst randomly. "Chambers of the heart. Or something…"

"Right," I giggled. "I'll pretend I understood that."

"Well, hell, I wasn't paying attention. Do me a favor and say I tried, will you?"

Becky looked as if she was contemplating his request, whereas I nodded. He seemed nice enough-might as well help him out.

"So, why are you here?" I asked him unceremoniously.

"Uh, something about 'testing'. I really don't know. Wasn't paying attention to that, either."

"Meh." Becky shrugged. "Listening is so boring. Why would you do something you don't want to do?"

"My thoughts _exactly_."

Demyx seemed a lot more comfortable-apparently reassured that we weren't going to rat him out. He motioned for us to follow him to the table. We did, and soon we were all seated in the uncomfortable white chairs Demyx had pulled out of I-don't-know-where.

"Okay," he began enthusiastically. "lemme see if I can remember your guy's names. Um, you're Rebecca," He said, pointing to me, "and you're Maddie?" He looked at Becky.

"No way!" Becky rolled her eyes. "_I'm _Rebecca and _she's _Maddie."

"Damn, I thought I had it." He frowned and began to drum his fingers on the table. "Rebecca, Maddie-Maddie Rebecca…" He muttered under his breath a few times. "Okay, I think I've got it now." He leaned back in his chair, but frantically straightened when he saw Xemnas re-enter the room.

Xemnas marched over to us and shoved a pile of paper into Becky's hand. "Saix said you wanted this…" he growled.

"Awesome, man!" She greedily hugged the papers to her chest as if she were worried that one of us would try to take them from her.

Xemnas gave her a borderline pitying look. "I apologize for the brief interruption. Number IX, did you inform them on why I've called them here?"

"Um, yeah, but I think they were a bit confused." Demyx replied in a monotone.

"Yes, I expected as much. You've never really shown any proficiency in detailed descriptions."

Demyx rolled his eyes behind Xemnas's back.

"Well, do you have any questions?"

I thought carefully, piecing together a question that would get me all the answers I needed (Which happened to be a lot.)

"Well, what exactly are the chambers of the heart?"

_That should do…_

Xemnas looked almost _excited._ "Yes. Of course, straight to the point." He said, his voice concealing his emotion better than his face. "Above all things, this deserves an explanation."

_Hooray, another lecture._

"In my recent studies, I discovered some very _intriguing _information. The human heart, as a whole, is a single unit: evolving and adapting to the nature of the individual it resides in. However, the heart can be separated into seven sub-divisions; each of which can stand on it's own without the aid of the other 'chambers'. It is from these individual sections that the power one wields is found. Each chamber has its own unique 'personality', therefore giving it an ability to correspond. In any case, only one chamber can be unlocked in a heart; and very rarely will it change. The reason I have called you here is to discover which chamber was unlocked in your heart when you arrived in our world."

I nodded to show that I understood, although I was still slightly confused.

"How, exactly, do you plan on doing that?" Becky asked.

_Exactly what I wanted to know…_

"It is actually a fairly simple process: far more simple than one would think. But before we begin that, I must explain a few more things."

Demyx groaned. Obviously he didn't enjoy explanations.

Xemnas ignored him and continued. "As I said before, the chambers are divided upon certain conditions. For each chamber to be an individual, each must have an individual reason for being unlocked. This is based on the nature and history of the human. As for the chambers themselves, each has been given a name parallel to the powers it can bestow. For example, the first chamber-The Chamber of Time-was given that name because the person who unlocks it will receive the ability to warp time. The others are named similarly. The second-"

"What _are _the other six?" I wondered aloud.

"I was _getting _to that." He said through gritted teeth, somewhat annoyed at the interruption. "The second chamber is the Chamber of Feeling. This one is different from the others as we do not fully understand its capabilities. You have already met someone with this power: Number XIII."

"Roxas?"

"The very same."

"Well, what is the power?"

"He is the key bearer. I won't explain that now, however. Get him to show you." Xemnas began to pace around the table. "The third chamber is the Chamber of Portraits. This one is more varied in its abilities, but it all ties back to images or characters inscribed on paper. The Chamber of Illumination, or the fourth chamber, provides the power over mind and body: also known as hypnosis. I consider this one the most common, for it only occurs in a soul that has been reincarnated; which happens more often than you would think. Don't be surprised if this is yours. The fifth chamber is the Chamber of Power. Err; I really don't believe this would be yours. It only occurs in people who value bodily strength more than emotional stature. You aren't exactly what I would picture when I think 'physical strength'…"

_Yeah, well look up jerk-ass in the dictionary and you'll see Xemnas._

(That was an incredibly sad attempt at a comeback…)

The sixth chamber, the Chamber of Binding, is usually unlocked in a person who is set on the path of revenge. It grants the person control over silence and noise, as well as the power of interrogation. And finally, the seventh chamber: the Chamber of Shadows. I would rather hope you didn't open this one. It is only unlocked in a person who has committed an unforgivable crime, willingly or not. We aren't quite sure what this chamber holds."

"Does trespassing count as an unforgivable crime?"

"Pardon?"

"Never mind. How are you going to find out what I am?"

Xemnas stopped pacing and slapped his hand down onto the table, making everyone jump. "I would tell you, but first I need to find out why the chairs have returned. DEMYX! Why are the chairs back?"

"You just noticed these? Um… I dunno where they came from."

"You're sitting on one. How do you not know?"

"I dunno."

"Really…"

"Really."

"I told you not to bring back the chairs. They were gone for a reason!"

"I did not place these chairs here; especially not because I was bored and needed to sit."

"Is that so?"

"Actually, I brought the chairs. Sorry, wasn't sure whether you wanted them here, so I thought I'd take the risk." (That was me.)

"Did you now?"

"Err; yeah. I have magical 'chair summoning powers'."

"Prove it."

"Sorry-can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Umm, I accidentally summoned white chairs. White chairs are, like, my kryptonite. They're bad."

"_Kryptonite? _What is that?"

"My anti-drug."

(Insert awkward turtle here…)

Xemnas slowly shook his head. "Demyx, remove these chairs that you put here."

"Fine, fine."

Xemnas turned to me. "Magical _chair_ summoning powers? If you're going to take the blame for something, at least make it a legitimate excuse."

"He-he, sorry."

Xemnas, now in as foul a mood as ever, slumped down in a chair right as Demyx was about to take it. Demyx slightly fumed, but strived to avoid further conflict and moved on.

"Alright," Xemnas said, waving his hand lazily. Several random objects appeared on the table. "The objects you see in front of you all have simple ties to the seven chambers. As you can see, there is a cloak, a key, a nib and ink-which are connected, by the way-a candle, a sword, rope, and lastly, a small black box. They have been arranged in the order of the chambers they connect with: from first to last." He heaved an exasperated sigh, glaring angrily at the objects as if he wished they would disappear. This was weird, considering the fact that he brought them there in the first place.

I began to regret opening my mouth at all. I had to admit; sometimes I didn't know when to keep it shut. I looked apologetically at Xemnas, who only narrowed his eyes.

"You want to try summoning me another chair?" He said sarcastically. "I'd really like to put my feet up. That should be simple enough for you."

Xemnas conveniently averted his eyes just as Becky slid out of her chair and onto the floor. She was currently preoccupied with a drawing she had started, so I quickly ran over to the chair and pushed it over to Xemnas. He looked back at me disdainfully.

"Where did you get that?" He asked with a flicker of suspicion in his eye.

"I summoned it!" I lied, knowing all to well that he didn't believe a word I was saying.

He gritted his teeth and glanced at Becky. "Wasn't she just sitting in that?"

"No, no! Of course not! She likes sitting on the floor. You see, every day we stood around in the quad, but Becky was always sitting on the ground. She hates standing when she doesn't have to, so the floor's good enough for her."

"I see. Well, if you want to keep playing at this, go ahead." He growled, unsure whether or not the chair had been Becky's. He propped his feet up and continued. "What I'm going to have you do is very simple." He stated. "All you have to do is choose an object."

I raised an eyebrow. "That's all?"

"That's all."

"How is that going to prove what chamber I've unlocked? I mean-this is all decision based. Isn't my chamber already unlocked? I don't know what it is…"

"But your heart does." He looked at me intensely. "Just trust it. You should feel a connection to at least one of these objects. Unless you actually have the ability to summon chairs-not quite sure what category that falls under."

I gritted my teeth. _He's not going to let this go, is he?_

He gestured to the table, wordlessly urging me to make my choice. I stared at the objects, waiting for some sort of feeling for any of them; but none came. I shifted uneasily. Why wasn't this working? The nervous pit in my stomach grew larger with every second that went by. They had made a mistake, hadn't they…?

Becky stood and walked over to my side. "You stumped?" She asked incredulously. "You always were indecisive." Shaking her head, she walked over to the table and snatched up the nib and ink.

"Wh-what do you think you're doing?" Xemnas snapped.

"I need to ink my drawing." She shoved the pile of paper into my hands and stormed over to Xemnas, pulling her chair out from under his feet and pushing it back toward the table.

A wave of emotion swept over me. I glanced down at my hands. _The paper?_ No, it couldn't be.

Becky took the pile back from me, seated herself at the table, and began to trace over her drawing with the nib. As soon as the paper left my hands, the connection between it and me faded.

"Hey Becky, can I have a sheet of paper?" I asked her.

She wordlessly took a piece from the bottom of the stack and handed it to me. As soon as my fingertips grazed the paper the feeling returned. But paper wasn't one of the objects. Was that possible?

I grinned. If this was what I thought it was, I could send this entire organization into confused hysterics.

_Oh yeah, this'll be fun…_

I looked up at Xemnas, who was attempting to grab the nib and ink back from Becky (with little success.) "Err…" I cleared my throat, making both of them pause. "I… think I found it."

"Found what?" Xemnas snapped. One of his hands was awkwardly grasping the bottle of ink while the other looked ready to fend off another one of Becky's secret ninja moves. (AKA a slap in the face.)

I raised the paper and gave it a shake.

"I'm… very happy for you." He said, giving his head a confused shake. He and Becky both returned to their epic struggle for the stolen objects.

I sighed. If this was really the object that represented my heart, then I should probably do something with it. _Now let me think; what can I do with a piece of paper?_ Well, I could draw on it, of course, but that seemed a bit obvious. Anyways, wasn't that what the nib was for? I could always try folding it. After all, Origami was a respected form of artistic culture. What did I know how to do? Not much, actually. Paper cranes were about the only things I could do. _Hmm, might as well give it a shot._

After fixing the paper so it was a square, I began folding. (Yes, folding paper is really fun.) _Fold diagonally, flip over, fold in half..._ Xemnas and Becky, unfortunately, wouldn't stop arguing. I tried to focus on what I was doing. _Book fold on both sides, _(_he he, it looks like a fox,)_ _fold up, book fold again…_ Eventually, I had finished it. As always with my paper cranes, I had to give it a name. "I'll call you-Admiral Edward St. Barnaby!" (Don't ask, seriously.) As soon as the words escaped my lips, the crane flitted to life. I gasped in awe (and a sort of hysterics) as I watched it hover in front of me.

"Oh shit, what is that?" Demyx yelped from behind me. _What was it with the people here sneaking up behind me?_

Xemnas immediately dropped the nib and rushed over to me, leaving Becky looking triumphant and proud. "Wh-what is this?"

"It's a paper crane." I replied nonchalantly.

For a moment, Xemnas appeared to completely lose his mind. He began to mutter things like, "but this goes against the research" and "Zexion is never wrong; this can't be possible!" After a minute or so he collected himself and looked at me sternly.

"Do you realize how _urgent_ this is?" he said dramatically.

"Um…no…" I replied.

He covered his face with his hand and looked out at the fluttering paper crane from behind his fingers.

The crane zipped around as if it had a mind of its own. I watched as well, fascinated by what I had created. It was pretty sweet, I had to admit, but what could one paper crane do? I'd probably need a lot more to make this work for me. After all, paper was still just… paper: alive or not. Also, they didn't have to be _just_ paper cranes. There was a bunch of things I could make!

Suddenly, Demyx let out a pained yelp. Xemnas and I, startled by the noise, looked over at him. I was surprised to see a miniature Gaara (Yes, from Naruto,) attacking Demyx's foot menacingly. The strange thing about it, though, (besides the fact that it was, you know, there,) was the fact that it was only a drawing. I instantly looked over at Becky, who was grinning uncontrollably.

_Did she just…_

Xemnas stared open mouthed at the two of us, the shock apparent on his face.

Still squealing, Demyx attempted to shake off the Mini-Gaara. I silently thanked him. _He made this a whole lot less awkward._

Xemnas, Becky, and I all stood awkwardly around the table, none of us willing to speak.

_Well, this was going to be interesting._


	4. Chapter 4

**Yeah, he he, sorry this took so long people... everything up to the fourth chapter has been done for a while... I've just been too lazy to post it. Oh well! Yeah...

* * *

**Xemnas paced the halls of the castle with a nervous gait. _Where did Saix go?_ He thought to himself. It was necessary that he gather several of the elite members to discuss the recent occurrences. 

Demyx whined somewhere next to him. "Superior, when's he gonna get here? I'm bored!"

"Well, you're going to be bored for a while. I need you at the meeting, so you stay here."

"But Superior, the only reason I was there in the first place was to test Maddie's ability! I was the _punching bag. _You're going to call the punching bag as a witness?"

"Yes."

Saix appeared at Xemnas's side without warning, startling him. "Yes, Superior? What can I do for you?" he said with a non-characteristic grin.

"There you are, Saix." Xemnas frowned. "I need you to assemble numbers IV, V, VI, VIII, and XI immediately. This is urgent; bring them all back here."

Saix nodded and disappeared without questioning.

Xemnas grabbed Demyx by the hood of his cloak and shoved him into the doorway next to them. Ignoring his squeals of protest, the Superior took his seat at the head of the table. The room was commonly used for short-notice meetings, but as of late it hadn't been getting much use.

Demyx unwillingly took his seat as well, looking solemn and morose. He glared at Xemnas in his usual 'I'd rather be somewhere else' sort of way. Xemnas considered sending him away, for sanity's sake, but denied himself the luxury.

Minutes passed, and Saix eventually returned with the five requested members: Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, Axel, and Marluxia. All five of them, including Saix, had been involved in the recent studies of the heart, and it was vital that they were all there.

After all of them had taken their seat, Xemnas cleared his throat and began. "I apologize for this meeting's short notice. I know not all of you are willing to be here right now. I'd thank you for coming, but I really don't care. Now, as you all know, I had the girl, Maddie, tested for her ability today. I doubt any of us could have foreseen the events that took place during that testing, but the situation calls for immediate questioning. Were _any_ of you aware of the possibility of an eighth chamber?"

Not one of the members spoke. The confused looks on all their faces suggested to Xemnas that he explain what had happened.

"The girl," he continued, "had a very…_unique _gift, let's say." He pulled the paper crane that the girl had made earlier out of his pocket and held it up for the rest of them to see.

"A bird? I'm sure this is fascinating news, Superior, but I'm afraid I don't get your point. The girl has a paper folding habit-so what?" Lexaeus grumbled.

Xemnas released the paper crane from his grip and watched as it zipped around the room. He heard several confused murmurs from some of the members.

"What does it mean?" Vexen asked tritely.

"It means that this girl's abilities are not confined to those discovered in our research. This is something new. I believe it may be part of a previously undiscovered chamber. If so, it calls into question all our other research. Axel-I want you to monitor her. Report back to me if any new developments occur."

"But, Wha? Why me?" He stammered.

"You were asking for something to do, weren't you? Well, here you go."

Axel pouted angrily and looked away.

"Axel, listen to me. You need to keep an eye on that girl. She seems a bit… out of sorts at times. Just don't let her get into any trouble."

"You sound worried." Axel mused.

Xemnas scowled. "As for _that_ discussion," he said sharply, "we can continue that at a later time. Now, next order of business. The other girl also leads me to question our research. Number VI, you said that there was only one person from their world with any sort of ability, did you not?"

"Yes, Sir, all my senses told me that there was only one. I couldn't sense anyone else." Zexion replied confidently.

"The other girl, Rebecca, was able to use one of the objects provided."

"Her little drawing from Hell tried to rip my foot off!" Demyx yelled angrily.

Xemnas shot him an angry glare. _Obviously he had never heard of manners._ After Demyx piped down, Xemnas pulled out what appeared to be a birdcage with Rebecca's drawing inside. The miniature boy sat angrily in the middle of the cage with a fowl and angry expression embedded on its face.

"This is what she created."

"NO!" Marluxia roared. "No! It's not possible! Superior, this must be a joke!"

"I'm afraid not, Number XI."

"Well…You… Certainly you're not going to stand for this?"

"Erhem…" Zexion coughed. All eyes turned to him as he waited for permission to speak. Xemnas nodded, allowing him to continue. "Well, Sir," he began, "there is a possibility that Rebecca is able to conceal her abilities. If she could possibly withdraw the energy that her heart gives off, she could be of some use to us."

Marluxia opened his mouth to protest, but Xemnas silenced him with a wave of his hand. "Yes, I believe you're right, Number VI."

The meeting was interrupted when Number IX began snarling at the boy in the cage, who was ultimately making faces back. "Number IX, do you mind?" Xemnas grumbled.

"That thing is evil…" He said, pointing to the living sketch. The boy grinned triumphantly, and Xemnas briskly returned it to its place under the table.

"Alright; Saix, until these two are able to fend for themselves, I'm putting them under your protection."

"Yes Sir." Saix nodded.

"Pardon me for asking, Superior, but where are the girls now?" Vexen pondered aloud.

"I sent them both back to their rooms. Oh yes, and Number IV, before I forget, did you get around to creating a synthetic teleportation device for both of them?"

Vexen nodded. "I started, yes."

"Good. I want that done by tomorrow."

"T-tomorrow, Sir? But I can't-"

"Tomorrow, Number IV."

Vexen, not willing to argue, slumped down in his chair.

Marluxia stood up angrily. "You aren't thinking of giving those two the means to teleport, are you? That's like giving a crook the keys to a bank! This will turn out badly for all of us."

"Who are you to judge, Number XI? You've only known them for a day." Xemnas argued.

"I just have a bad feeling about this whole thing."

"You don't get feelings, Marluxia." Axel chuckled. "C'mon, just because they called you a girlie?"

Marluxia growled menacingly and sat back down.

Saix, sensing the tension, quickly stood. "Superior," he said, "wasn't there another issue you wanted to address? The one we spoke of earlier?"

Xemnas frowned. "Yes, yes, of course. There was the debate of whether or not the name of the Organization should be changed. Two new members do complicate things. If we can get this decided by today, we won't need to call another meeting."

"Shouldn't we change the name, Sir? There are two new members, after all." Vexen mused.

"Yes, but you do realize, Vexen, that both of the members don't happen to be Nobodies." Lexaeus scowled. "I personally believe that we should keep the name of the Organization the same."

"Why would that make a difference?"

"The name of the Organization is Organization XIII. There are thirteen Nobodies, therefore it becomes Organization XIII. This isn't Organization XIII People With Hearts. If it were, we wouldn't be here, would we?"

"Well, no." It was Vexen's turn to scowl. "But even so, with two new additional members, isn't it necessary to make _some_ changes?"

Zexion stood. "I agree with Vexen, Superior, on account of the fact that some changes to the name should be made. We cannot remain Organization XIII with fifteen members."

"Yes, possibly." Xemnas furrowed his brow, lost in thought. "Number V does have a point, however. Both members are a unique addition to our Organization. Just simply changing it to Organization XV wouldn't seem right."

"How about Organization XIII Plus Two? Axel commented.

"Axel, that is the stupidest name I've-" Marluxia began, but he was quickly interrupted by Xemnas.

"That could work; that name makes sense."

Saix coughed uncomfortably. "Sir, with all due respect, that name's a bit, off. I mean, it really is a mouthful. Going around telling everyone we're Organization XIII Plus Two would get rather obnoxious after a while."

"Yeah, and what are we going to do? Go around to each individual person and tell them we've changed our name?" Marluxia added almost pleadingly. "I believe the name of our Organization should stay the same."

"That is a fantastic point." Xemnas sighed. "Okay then, it's decided. The name of our Organization remains the same. Does anyone have a closing statement before I end the meeting?"

Demyx raised his hand slightly. "Yeah, uh, why was I here? I didn't really do anything."

Xemnas considered this for a moment. "You know what, I forget. Anyone else?"

No one raised their hand.

"Alright," the superior said thoughtfully. "Meeting adjourned."


End file.
